Filmmaking icon Steven Spielberg was heard thanking fellow cinematic icon Tom Cruise for saving “Hollywood’s ass” at the recent Oscar nominees luncheon in Los Angeles. The pair were seen talking and embracing at the event, with the director behind the Oscar nominated The Fabelmans praising Cruise for his dedication to theatrical releases and the success of the legacy sequel, Top Gun: Maverick.
“You saved Hollywood’s ass, and you might have saved theatrical distribution. Seriously, ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ might have saved the entire theatrical industry.”
The iconic pair, who have worked together in the past on the likes of Minority Report and War of the Worlds, looked genuinely emotional when seeing each other. After sharing an affectionate embrace, Spielberg could not help but heap praise on Cruise and the success of Top Gun: Maverick, as well as how much the movie has helped the theater industry.
Released back in May last year, Top Gun: Maverick found huge success both critically and financially, grossing over $1 billion at the box office and resisting the urge to land on streaming platforms too soon. A straight-to-streaming strategy was adopted by several major studios during the height of the pandemic, leading many to wonder if theaters would survive.
Of course, while Top Gun: Maverick certainly played a big part in getting audiences back to cinemas, we would be remiss if we did not note how the monster-mash movie Godzilla vs. Kong was the first tentpole project to start things off again as the impact of the pandemic began to slow down. This was followed by the MCU sequel Spider-Man: No Way Home, which was also the first movie to gross over $1 billion at the worldwide box office amid the circumstances.
Still, there is no denying the impact of Top Gun: Maverick on the cinematic landscape, and no doubt Spielberg was speaking for many a film fan and theater owner when thanking Tom Cruise.
Top Gun: Maverick Has Been Nominated for Best Picture
Top Gun: Maverick picks up after more than thirty years since the release of the first Top Gun, and follows Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) who has been of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators for just as long. Feeling that he is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot, Maverick has dodged the advancement in rank that would ground him. When he finds himself training a detachment of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen, Maverick encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), call sign: “Rooster,” the son of Maverick’s late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka “Goose.”
Directed by Joseph Kosinski and written by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, and Christopher McQuarrie, from a story conceived by Peter Craig and Justin Marks, Top Gun: Maverick stars Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer, both of whom reprise their roles from the 80s original. The sequel introduces Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, and Ed Harris.
Top Gun: Maverick has now been nominated for Best Picture at the 95th Academy Awards, and will go up against the likes of All Quiet on the Western Front, Avatar: The Way of Water, The Banshees of Inisherin, Elvis, Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Fabelmans, Tár, Triangle of Sadness, and Women Talking. Alongside Best Picture, Top Gun: Maverick has also been nominated for Best Sound, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, and Best Original Song for “Hold My Hand.”